A Moment Like This
by MayMarie
Summary: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." Important moments in Derek's and Casey's lives and eventually, their relationship. Drabbles.
1. Part I

**Well, this is just a series a drabbles that I thought would be fun to write. I'll probably be updating this as the mood strikes- probably when I feel like I should be updating The Place You're In or All My Life but don't have the time to write something decent.**

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When Derek was eleven years old, his life changed forever.

Derek remembered the day perfectly. For the first time ever, he'd scored the winning goal for the hockey team right as the final period ended. His team had lifted him up onto their shoulders in celebration. He'd felt like a hero.

Instead of going out for pizza with the team like usual, Derek was so eager to go home and share his victory that he begged Sam's mom to take him home first. He thanked her for the ride home just like his mom always told him to and swung open the front door and stopped in his tracks, his excited cries dying in his throat.

The scene that he walked into would be burned into his memory forever. The family photos that usually hung over the fireplace were on tossed to the ground, half the books and movies and CDs were torn from their shelves, and a pair of suitcases were overflowing with what he recognized as his mom's clothes.

His parents were standing in the middle of the living room, screaming at each other.

"What the fuck were you thinking Abby?! You're just leaving?"

"I can't stay here any longer, George! I'm not meant to be a mother!"

"We've got three kids Abby! You can't just abandon them! Were you even going to say goodbye to them? To me?"

"It's better this way, George."

"Bullshit!" He screamed back to her. "You're a coward. You wait until we're all out of the house to pack your bags and make your escape. That's fucking bullshit and you know it!"

It was right around then that George noticed his oldest son watching them. Derek felt his dad scoop him into a hug, felt himself being pulled tight into his father's shoulder. That's when Derek realized he'd started crying.

Somehow, through his sobs, he heard the front door slam. He wrenched himself from his dad's arms and ran outside just in time to see his mom's car backing out of the driveway and driving down the street.

He did the first thing he could think of. He took off running after the car, vaguely aware of his dad running after him. But by the time Derek made it to the end of the street, he'd lost sight of the car. Once again, Derek felt himself being swept into his dad's arms as he let the tears come.

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**Thanks for reading! I'm currently coughing up a lung from a cold, so send some healthy thoughts my way please!**

**--MM**

**(April 2nd, 2009)**


	2. Part II

The first time Casey MacDonald heard the word divorce, she was five years old. The parents of one of the girls in her class split up near the end of the year and the news spread like wildfire (well, the kindergarten version of it, anyway).

Casey and Nora were halfway home when Casey asked her mom what "divorced" meant.

"Well," began Nora, trying to find the right words to explain it to her precocious five year old. "Sometimes mommies and daddies can't stay married anymore so they get a divorce."

"Oh," Said Casey thoughtfully, thinking it through. "Do they still love each other?"

"Sometimes they decide to just be friends," Nora answered after thinking her answer through once again. "They still love their kids as much as before," she added in case Casey would think otherwise.

"I'm glad you and daddy won't ever get divorced," Casey declared as her five year old brain processed the idea but never fully believing it would ever happen to her parents.

By the time they got home, Casey's mind had moved on to other things. It would be another five years before she'd even remember having the conversation with her mom.

It was 3AM when Casey realized that her parents were going to get a divorce. A crash from the living room woke her up, jolting her out of a sound sleep. When she went downstairs for breakfast the next morning she'd realize that the crash was the sound of one of their family photos being broken (and it would be a few more years before she'd realize that it was her mother that broke it by throwing it against the wall). But for now, all she knew was that she'd been woken up in the middle of the night once again.

She immediately turned her attention to Lizzie's bed on the other side of their room to see if her little sister had woken up as well.

Without a word, Casey scooted over to the side of her bed and held the comforter up until Lizzie crawled in bed with her. As usual, Casey tucked the blanket around Lizzie and pulled her sister close to her, stroking Lizzie's hair until her breathing evened out again, indicating that she was asleep once again.

Casey wished she could fall back asleep as easily as Lizzie, but that was rarely the case. She'd lost count of how many nights she'd heard her parent's fighting.

"Who is she, Dennis?" Casey heard her mom demand from downstairs, her voice slightly muffled from the walls between them. "I didn't quit my job to stay home just to give you more free time to go fucking around with whatever naïve little intern will put up with you!"

"Fuck you, Nora!" Dennis spat back at his wife.

Casey buried her head in her pillow, trying to drown out the argument from downstairs.

The conversation she had with her mom about divorce all those years ago came back to her and she realized how wrong she'd been when she thought her parents would never get a divorce.

**Thanks for reading! It feels good to have something out there again.**

**If you noticed any typos or errors, let me know and I'll fix them. This was written in 45 minutes and completely un-betaed so I need all the help I can get.**

**-MayMarie**

**(July 21st, 2010)**


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